Bob Graham on Jobs

I am the jobs candidate-I created 1.4M jobs in Florida

I am the jobs candidate. And I'm not only talking about what I will do, but what I have done. While I was governor of Florida, when the state had a population of approximately 12 million people, I presided over the creation of 1.4 million new jobs.
Those jobs that resulted in, for the first time in our state's history, Florida's per-capita income being above the national average. And for three years in a row Florida was recognized as the state that had the best climate for economic development.

Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Sep 25, 2003

Invest in our people & our workforce

There are two paramount questions in the discussion of trade.

One is: we have to have a playing field which is as level as possible for the competition to take place . That includes taking into account the context of trade, such as labor and
environmental policies.

The second aspect is how is America going to win on that level playing field? By making an investment in our people, to have the best trained, the best educated workforce in the world with the ability to retrain.

Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Sep 25, 2003

Repeal Bush tax cuts that went to top earners

Q: How do you create jobs in that way across the board in all sectors?

GRAHAM: While I was governor, 1.4 million new jobs were created. Those jobs had the effect for the first time in my state's history, raising the average per capita income
above the national average. For three years, Florida was designated as the state that had the best climate for economic expansion and growth. So I am not speculating. I am bringing the experience of actually creating good jobs for our people.

Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003

Need national program to rebuild infrastructure

Q: You have said that you would create new jobs by using federal funds to rebuild infrastructure, to build bridges and highways.

GRAHAM: We should have an interstate-like program to rebuild America. We got a wake-up call a couple of weeks ago when our
electric system went down. The same thing could have happened with the bridges falling into the Mississippi River, with schools tumbling in on children. If we can spend the money to rebuild Afghanistan, we can do it in the US.

Source: Democratic Primary Debate, Albuquerque New Mexico
Sep 4, 2003

We pay bonuses in suites & fire workers in basement

I'm running for president to secure our economic future. In the last two years, we have lost jobs. We've lost our pensions. We've lost confidence in the American economy, and the only solution that the president offers --
more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

As president, I will invest in our people. As president, I will assure that we will not have the corporate greed which is paying bonuses in the suites while the workers are being fired in the basement.

Source: AFSCME union debate in Iowa
May 17, 2003

Voted NO on repealing Clinton's ergonomic rules on repetitive stress.

Vote to pass a resolution to give no enforcement authority to ergonomics rules submitted by the Labor Department during the Clinton Administration. These rules would force businesses to take steps to prevent work-related repetitive stress disorders

Voted NO on killing an increase in the minimum wage.

The Kennedy (D-MA) Amdt would have increased the minimum wage by $1 an hour over two years, to $5.65 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2001. The Kennedy Amdt would have also provided $9.5 billion in tax cuts over five years.
Status: Motion to Table Agreed to Y)50; N)48; NV)2

Protect overtime pay protections.

Graham signed a letter from 43 Senators to the Secretary of Labor

To: Labor Secretary Elaine Chao

Dear Secretary Chao:

We write to express our serious concerns about the Department's proposed regulation on white collar exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act. These sweeping changes could eliminate overtime pay protections for millions of American workers.

We urge you not to implement this new regulation that will end overtime protections for those currently eligible. Under current law, the FLSA discourages employers from scheduling overtime by making overtime more expensive. According to a GAO study, employees exempt from overtime pay are twice as likely to work overtime as those covered by the protections. Our citizens are working longer hours than ever before – longer than in any other industrial nation.
At least one in five employees now has a work week that exceeds 50 hours. Protecting the 40-hour work week is vital to balancing work responsibilities and family needs. It is certainly not family friendly to require employees to work more hours for less pay.

Overtime protections clearly make an immense difference in preserving the 40-hour work week. Millions of employees depend on overtime pay to make ends meet and pay their bills for housing, food, and health care. Overtime pay often constitutes 20-25% of their wages. These workers will face an unfair reduction in their take-home pay if they can no longer receive their overtime pay.

We urge you not to go forward with any regulation that denies overtime pay protections to any of America's currently eligible hard-working men and women.

Source: Letter from 43 Senators to the Secretary of Labor 03-SEN4 on Jun 30, 2003

Rated 80% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-labor voting record.

Graham scores 80% by the AFL-CIO on labor issues

As the federation of America’s unions, the AFL-CIO includes more than 13 million of America’s workers in 60 member unions working in virtually every part of the economy. The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. To accomplish this mission we will build and change the American labor movement.

The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.